State of Tennessee v. Adonis Donnell Holbrooks

CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee
DecidedOctober 14, 2020
DocketM2019-02099-CCA-R3-CD
StatusPublished

This text of State of Tennessee v. Adonis Donnell Holbrooks (State of Tennessee v. Adonis Donnell Holbrooks) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State of Tennessee v. Adonis Donnell Holbrooks, (Tenn. Ct. App. 2020).

Opinion

10/14/2020 IN THE COURT OF CRIMINAL APPEALS OF TENNESSEE AT NASHVILLE Assigned on Briefs August 19, 2020

STATE OF TENNESSEE v. ADONIS DONNELL HOLBROOKS

Appeal from the Criminal Court for Davidson County No. 2018-A-33 Mark J. Fishburn, Judge ___________________________________

No. M2019-02099-CCA-R3-CD ___________________________________

Adonis Donnell Holbrooks, Defendant, was indicted by the Davidson County Grand Jury in a superseding indictment for one count of attempted rape of a child, one count of solicitation of a minor, one count of especially aggravated sexual exploitation of a minor, and one count of sexual exploitation of a minor via electronic means. After a jury trial, Defendant was convicted as charged. As a result of the convictions, Defendant received an effective sentence of twelve years in incarceration with 100% release eligibility. The trial court denied a motion for new trial and motion to reconsider the denial of the motion for new trial. Defendant appealed, arguing that the evidence was insufficient to support the convictions for attempted rape of a child and especially aggravated sexual exploitation of a minor. After a thorough review, we affirm the judgments of the trial court.

Tenn. R. App. P. 3 Appeal as of Right; Judgments of the Criminal Court Affirmed

TIMOTHY L. EASTER, J., delivered the opinion of the court, in which JAMES CURWOOD WITT, JR. and CAMILLE R. MCMULLEN, JJ., joined.

George Thompson and Newton Holiday (at trial), and Manuel B. Russ (at motion to reconsider motion for new trial and on appeal), Nashville, Tennessee, for the appellant, Adonis Donnell Holbrooks.

Herbert H. Slatery III, Attorney General and Reporter; Zachary T. Hinkle, Deputy Attorney General; Glenn R. Funk, District Attorney General; and Jeremy D. Johnston, Assistant District Attorney General, for the appellee, State of Tennessee.

OPINION Defendant was indicted in January of 2015 by the Davidson County Grand Jury for one count of especially aggravated sexual exploitation of a minor and one count of sexual exploitation of a minor via electronic means. In January of 2018, a superseding indictment charged Defendant with one count of attempted rape of a child, one count of solicitation of a minor, one count of especially aggravated sexual exploitation of a minor, and one count of sexual exploitation of a minor via electronic means.

At trial, the proof revealed that the victim, A.Q.,1 received an iPod Touch for Christmas of 2013 when she was nine years old. An iPod Touch is a device similar to an iPhone except the iPod Touch only utilizes a WiFi signal and is not capable of utilizing a cellular signal. In May of 2014, the victim began receiving text messages from Defendant on her iPod Touch. The victim was still nine years of age at this time. The victim inquired whether the texts were coming from someone at school. Defendant responded, “hell no.” Eventually, Defendant told the victim that his name was “Adons.” The victim told Defendant that she was nine years old but also told him she was “just kidding,” and that she was actually twelve years old.

After many text messages between the two, Defendant asked the victim to send him pictures of her vagina and breasts. The victim complied. She testified that she sent the pictures because she was scared. The victim told Defendant that she lived on a street that was close to her actual address. Defendant sent the victim pictures of his penis and nipples. The victim admitted that she asked Defendant for these pictures but explained that she did not actually understand what she was asking Defendant to send when she requested the pictures.

The victim explained that ordinarily, she deleted the messages from the iPod Touch but that she did not delete the messages she and Defendant exchanged on May 27, 2014. During this exchange, Defendant asked the victim if she had ever “suck[ed] dick,” “b[ee]n fu[c]k[e]d,” or “been ate out.” The victim replied, “Yes[,] no[,] yes[.] [H]ave [yo]u ever humped have [yo]u ever suck pussy[,] have you ever been raped.” Defendant replied, “Yes[,] Yes[,] Yes[,] by a girl . . . and I liked. Where’s the pics of [yo]ur pussy.” The victim sent an image of her vagina. Another time, the victim sent Defendant a picture of her face. Defendant’s response to the picture of the victim’s face was “[you]r cute.” The victim asked Defendant for pictures of his face, “nibble,” “ass,” and “dick.” Defendant sent pictures of his face and nipples to the victim. Defendant asked the victim whether she wanted Defendant to perform oral sex on her and when the victim wanted to have sex with Defendant.

1 It is the policy of this Court to refer to minor victims of sexual abuse by their initials. -2- In another text message, Defendant acknowledged that he was “really way too old” for the victim and that he had children who were near the victim’s age. Defendant expressed concern that the victim would tell his wife and/or his children about the messages. Despite his concern, Defendant asked the victim for her address.

On the day these messages were sent, the victim’s mother randomly checked the victim’s activity on the iPod Touch and discovered the messages exchanged between Defendant and the victim. The victim’s mother sent a text to Defendant to “wait a minute” and then called the police. The victim’s mother turned the iPod Touch over to police that day.

Detective Michael Adkins processed the iPod Touch. His investigation revealed that the telephone number communicating with the iPod Touch belonged to Defendant’s wife but Defendant’s name was also associated with the telephone number. Detective Adkins confirmed that Defendant’s driver’s license picture matched the picture of the man’s face sent from the telephone number to the victim’s iPod Touch.

Detective Adkins got permission from the victim’s mother to pose as the victim on the iPod Touch in order to continue communication with Defendant. Detective Adkins testified that he had training in undercover messaging and chatting. During training he learned that he should avoid leading the conversation. Detective Adkins refrained from mentioning sex or exchanging photographs unless the other party to the conversation brought the subject up first.

Detective Adkins posed as the victim on the iPod Touch and responded to text messages sent by Defendant. After receiving several text messages from Defendant in which Defendant inquired about the victim’s whereabouts, Detective Adkins responded by telling Defendant, “Mom took iPod away. Got it back this morning.” Soon thereafter, Defendant inquired when they were “hook[i]n[g] up.” Defendant also asked for “more pics of [the victim’s] sexy ass.” Detective Adkins, posing as the victim, complained that Defendant had not sent his own picture. Defendant responded that he would send a picture when he got off work at 4:00 p.m. Defendant sent a text that the victim was “way mature for [her age].” Detective Adkins responded, “[You] right not many 9 y[ear] o[lds] like me!”

Defendant tried to arrange a meeting with who he thought was the victim. Defendant asked for the victim’s address and told her that he lived nearby. The following text exchange occurred between Defendant and Detective Adkins, posing as the victim:

-3- Defendant: . . . [You] get out early Friday [yo]u wanna meet me somewhere[?] [the victim]: Where[?] Defendant: Depends on where [yo]u live[.] [the victim]: I’m close to you[.] Defendant: I get off at 11:30 am every Friday so [yo]u c[ou]ld b[e] walk[i]n[g] [i]n [yo]ur area and I come scoop [yo]u up or we meet behind [S]honeys or old [T]arget [the victim]: What we gonna do[.] Defendant: WHATEVA [YO]U WANNA DO BABY[.] W[ha]t [yo]u wanna do? [the victim]: I don’t know[.] Defendant: Touch[,] kiss[,] grind[,] suck[,] fuck[.]

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Bluebook (online)
State of Tennessee v. Adonis Donnell Holbrooks, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-of-tennessee-v-adonis-donnell-holbrooks-tenncrimapp-2020.